Split
by Sincere Nonsense
Summary: The twins were always together, right?
1. Abandoned

Introduction:

This is my origin story for the twins. It's within the same universe as the other stories I have on here and takes place sometime shortly before Many Voices. It stands alone, though, and doesn't interfere with the main story line.

* * *

 **Age: Three Orns**

Garnet yawned and tried to keep herself from drifting into recharge. She was taking the off-cycle shift again for Torque. Technically, they weren't supposed to do shifts like this twice in a row, but when there were only three hired caretakers and a handful of volunteers, they sometimes had to fudge the rules.

It hadn't been a very exciting shift so far. The orphanage was silent. She'd only had to go comfort one youngling who'd had a bad dream, and that hadn't taken very long. So now, she could sit and read, or check the news, or whatever she wanted, so long as she was alert in case something…

 _Bang bang bang._

Garnet looked up. A knock? At the door?

She spun her swivel chair around and looked at the screens for the front door camera. A femme stood there in the darkness, frowning as if she wasn't quite sure about something.

Garnet got out of the chair and stretched, then left the office. It let out right into the front hall and entry way, so she was at the door in just a few astroseconds. She could already hear a familiar sound outside. It made her angry.

She unlocked the door and it swung inward.

"Hey!" she said, stepping over the small, wailing bundle on the front step and chasing after the femme who'd left it.

But the femme transformed, and sped away, along with another alt mode who had been waiting out on the street.

"You can't just…!"

But they were gone.

Garnet had a moment of indecision. She wanted to chase after them. This was the third time this quarter. Why did mecha think they could do this? She ought to call the enforcers, but she doubted they'd help much. They were so busy already with the crime rate going up. And that sound called her back.

She turned around and walked back to the open doors of the orphanage.

When she reached the steps, she bent down and picked up the wailing sparkling. Stupid, stupid… if you didn't want a sparkling, then you shouldn't go to the allspark and get one. It wasn't like it was that hard. And this one seemed so young.

"They must not have given you much of a chance, poor thing," she said.

The sparkling screamed louder, struggling as if trying to free itself from Garnet's arms. This was illegal. If they wanted to give a sparkling to an orphanage, they were supposed to come during normal business joors and bring paperwork. This little mech didn't even have a designation to go with him. There would be no consequences for them, though. It cost too much to investigate something like this.

The credit had to be spent elsewhere, like on a medic.

She activated her internal comm. _"Boss,"_ she said, then waited.

After almost a breem, Avalanche answered back in a groggy voice. _"This had better be important."_

 _"Some mecha just left another sparkling here. First frame mech, I think. He's keening loud enough to wake the offline, so I'd bet they've already broken their bond with him."_

 _"Slag it, femme, you're not supposed to let them…"_

 _"They drove off! I couldn't chase them down and leave this little mech lying there on the step. He needs a medic. He's not calming down."_

There was silence on the other end for another breem. _"Ok, I'll get you one. Just keep him with you in the meantime. They didn't leave a designation, did they?"_

 _"Nope."_

 _"Well, come up with one, and once the medic shows up, you can start the paperwork."_

Garnet frowned, gently bouncing the sparkling in her arms as she walked back to the office. _"Ok."_ This ought to have been Torque's job. He was supposed to be on duty this off-cycle.

Paperwork was not Garnet's favorite thing. In fact it ranked pretty far down the list.

She looked down at the little sparkling. "You're going to be okay," she said quietly. "It's okay, little mech. You'll feel better in a few breems." He was probably in real physical pain. Broken bonds were not fun. "I know you hurt, sweetspark," she held him closer, and could feel the erratic pulsing of his tiny spark. "It's okay."

He was a cute little thing. Mostly yellow. "You need a designation," she said. "What should we call you?"

She walked into the dimly lit office.

She hoped the medic came soon. The little mech seemed pretty energetic for a sparkling who'd just had both guardian bonds broken. But he was obviously not comfortable.

A designation, a designation. "Shh… hush, little sparkling, you're going to be fine. You're going to be okay." This whole thing was wrong. This whole city was wrong. The whole world was. She was getting tired of listening to the news, tired of hearing about the crime rates, tired of seeing the little mecha she raised grow up with nowhere to go, no way to get a good education, no way to escape the curse of poverty.

It made her angry.

"Hush, you're going to be okay." Yellow was a good color. Bright. They needed more light in this place. "What should we call you? How about… Sunstreaker?"

The sparkling kept wailing, seemingly oblivious to everything else that was going on. But it seemed like the right thing to call him. "Sunstreaker," she said again.

* * *

 **Age: Half a Vorn**

The little sparkling sat by the side of the room. He clutched a datapad that was half as tall as he was. He seemed focused on whatever he was doodling.

That datapad sure did a good job of keeping him quiet.

Torque kept an optic on him anyway.

A little red femme tried to take a toy from another sparkling. They both started screaming as they fought over it. Torque got up and walked over. "Hey," he said, grabbing the toy from them. "Vanilla. Phosphora."

They both glared at him. He smiled. "Can you two play nicely or do I have to take this?" he held up the toy.

The younger femme, Vanilla, reached out for it. "Mine!" she said.

"It's not!" the Phosphora said. "It's everyone's! We all share it."

"Yes. Share nicely." He gave the toy to Vanilla.

A shout from across the room called his attention. "No!"

Torque sighed. He recognized that voice. The peace never lasted very long.

"It's my turn! You've had it for joors and joors."

"I have not!"

"Stop it!" Torque was better with younglings than sparklings. But Garnet had the younglings this orn. Lucky femme.

The sparklings were impossible. Especially this last half a vorn or so. Ever since the little terror had shown up.

The other little mech tried to grab the datapad from Sunstreaker, but Sunstreaker smacked him in the helm with it. "Go away!"

"Ow!" the other sparkling wailed, putting a hand to his helm. He turned around. "Torque he…"

"I know," Torque yanked the datapad away from the little yellow sparkling. "Sunstreaker."

"HEY!" Sunstreaker stood.

"Listen to me," Torque made optic contact with the little sparkling. Sunstreaker's yellow-white optics were full of anger. "You do not hit other mecha. You understand?"

"Give it back!"

"Do you understand?"

"It's my turn!" the other sparkling said, but Torque ignored him for now. "Sunstreaker, I need you to answer me. Do you understand?" Torque braced himself for a tantrum. But he got lucky this time.

"Yes," Sunstreaker looked away.

Torque gave him back the datapad. "You may have that for five more breems. Then you will give it to Hubcap."

Sunstreaker didn't acknowledge him.

"Torque, look at this!" A sparkling across the room called for him and Torque turned to look. Never a dull moment. He glanced back at Sunstreaker. The mech wasn't even looking at the datapad anymore, but was staring out the window.

He did that a lot too. Or sometimes just stared at the wall.

"Might just be something off about that sparkling," Torque muttered to himself. "And that's a bit of an understatement."

He went back to looking at what the sparkling across the room wanted to show him, and then had to break up another fight. Sparklings were just difficult. And ten of them in one room with only one caretaker keeping them in line didn't work very well. This was why mecha were only supposed to have one at a time.

"Mr. Torque," Vanilla tapped on his leg.

"Yes?"

The femme pointed.

Hubcap was now playing with the datapad.

Where was that little yellow menace?

Torque spun, searching the room for him. He was gone.

"He went out the…"

"Oh my Primus." Torque looked back at the open window. He dashed across the room and stuck his helm out. Fortunately they were only on the first story. And he could see the little yellow sparkling running across the yard. He was headed for the fence.

He activated his comm. _"Garnet, we've got a runner."_

 _"What? What are you talking about?"_ Garnet replied.

 _"Our little sunshine's making a break for it. He climbed out the window while my back was turned. I can't leave these sparklings in here, don't you have a volunteer with you this orn?"_

 _"Ugggghhh,"_ Garnet said. _"Why was the window open?"_

 _"Just go chase him down, I can't leave these mechlings. Oh, Primus, I think he's small enough to get through the fence…"_

 _"What! Just… just hold on."_

Torque clutched the window sill. The other sparklings were pressed around him, trying to see. Some of them started climbing him, and he had to catch one before she fell out the window.

Sunstreaker reached the fence.

And slipped through it.

Torque moaned, and shuttered his optics.

"What happened?"

"I wanna see!"

"What's going on?"

"Can I go outside?"

"Don't push me!"

"Ow!"

"Torque, he pushed me!"

"Okay, okay," Torque shut the window and turned back to look at his group of sparklings.

 _"Torque, which way did he go?"_

Torque took in a deep vent of atmosphere. "Give me an astrosecond because I need to comm. Garnet, and then we'll play a game."

"Yaaaaay!"

"Mr. Torque, why does Sunstreaker get to go outside?"

Torque held up a hand. _"He went southwest, straight at the fence. I don't know what way he went after he got through it."_

 _"You are so fired."_

 _"You can't fire me."_

 _"Some orn I'll be in charge of this orphanage…"_

 _"And I'll quit."_ He cut the comm.

"Okay, let's play a game."

"Can you open the window again?"

"No," Torque said. "I can't." He glanced at the window, feeling slightly sick. He hoped Garnet caught up to Sunstreaker quickly. As much of a pain as the little mech was, Torque didn't want him to disappear or get hurt.

* * *

Garnet dashed across the road as soon as the traffic cleared a little. She wasn't sure how that little yellow pitspawn had gotten all the way across the street without getting run over.

"Sunstreaker!"

He paused to look over his shoulder, then turned and ran harder.

She caught him in a few more strides. "What are you doing!" she shouted as she picked him up.

"Let me go!" Sunstreaker screamed, struggling. "Let me go!"

"No!" Garnet said. "You are in trouble, little mech. Come on, let's get back home."

"Noooooo!" Sunstreaker screamed, fighting harder. "I want to go! Let me go! Let me go!"

"Oh, stop it!" Garnet held him tightly as she carried him back across the road, and to the gate. The door opened for her and she stepped into the yard before it closed again. She carried a protesting, struggling Sunstreaker all the way into the building and set him down in the front hall.

She opened a comm. channel between herself, Torque, and Avalanche. _"Got him."_

 _"Thank Primus,"_ Torque said.

 _"Good,"_ Avalanche sounded more angry than relieved. _"Give me a breem, and then bring him into my office."_

 _"Sure thing, boss,_ " Garnet said, then looked down at Sunstreaker.

He was staring at the door, but when she moved, he looked up at her. He was trembling. His brilliant yellow-white optics stared up at her, horrified and confused. _Why would you do this to me?_ They seemed to ask.

Garnet sighed.

Sunstreaker shuttered his optics and screamed.

"Sunny."

He kept screaming.

"Sunstreaker, you are the one who ran away."

He sank to the ground, wailing.

"You were putting yourself in danger."

He probably couldn't hear her. He lay on the floor, making enough noise that she was tempted to turn her audio receptors off. Garnet wasn't sure whether to be annoyed, or feel sorry for the little mechling.

Once he was started, there was no stopping him. These tantrums were getting out of control. She should have known, that very first off-cycle, back when he was just a tiny, helpless sparkling. She'd spent five joors trying to calm him down, even after the medic came and made sure he was going to be all right.

Eventually, she bent down and picked him up again. He screamed louder, if that was possible, fighting her.

"Sunstreaker, you can either calm down and walk with me to the boss's office, or I will carry you. Your choice."

He fought harder to get free, and then let her set him down on his pedes, but didn't stop screaming. He did get a little quieter. His frantic, high-pitched, agonizing cries died down to a sort of pitiful keening.

"Come on. Pick up the pace. I have to get back to my group before that poor volunteer starts thinking I've abandoned her."

* * *

Avalanche sat across from a screaming sparkling. And waited. Sometimes, if he waited long enough, Sunstreaker got bored or tired. Avalanche was pretty sure it was a game to him.

Sometimes he had the patience for it. Sometimes he didn't.

He won this time, though. Sunstreaker quieted down. He was still hiccupping a little when Avalanche thought it was safe to speak.

"Okay," Avalanche said. "Are you ready to use your words?"

Sunstreaker glared at him and sucked in a tragic-sounding vent of atmosphere.

"You're an intelligent little sparkling. And I know you can talk very well. It's time to move past this tantrum phase. You will not get what you want by screaming."

Sunstreaker started crying again.

"What is it?" Avalanche said. "Just tell me. I just want to understand."

Sunstreaker took in a deep vent. "I want to go!" he wailed.

"Yes." Avalanche. "I could infer that. Where exactly did you think you were going?"

Sunstreaker just buried his faceplate in his hands, keening quietly.

"It is not safe for you to leave the orphanage. Do you understand me, Sunstreaker? You _can't_ do that. You could have gotten hurt, or lost."

The little yellow sparkling shook his helm.

"Sunstreaker, please talk to me."

He put his hands down, but didn't un-shutter his optics. "I! Need! To! Go! Home!" he screamed.

Then he was quiet.

Avalanche leaned forward slightly, frowning. Where had he gotten that idea? Had some of the older younglings been picking on him?

Sunstreaker un-shuttered his optics and glared.

"Mechling," Avalanche said as gently as he could. "This is your home."

It was a mistake. As soon as he said it, he wished he could recall the words. Sunstreaker started screaming again, louder than before.

Avalanche's patience ran out. "Enough with the dramatics!" he stood.

Sunstreaker was shocked into silence.

"Why do you do this every single orn? What is wrong with you? Are you hurt? Do you need a medic? Do you need more attention? What do you need? You have to talk to me so I know how to help you! Who put the idea into your processor that you need to go home?"

Sunstreaker just stared at him.

Avalanche sighed, frustrated with himself. He shouldn't have lost his temper. "I'm sorry," he said.

The little yellow sparkling started wailing again.

"Come on," Avalanche said. "If you aren't going to talk to me, you can go to your berth and stay there until you've calmed down."

Sunstreaker shook his helm, keening louder.

Avalanche got up. "I have other things to do, and other mecha to take care of." He picked Sunstreaker up and carried him away.

* * *

All was quiet, finally.

"Well," Avalanche said. The three adults stood in the front hall. "I'm here for the off-cycle this time. I'll see you two next orn."

Torque nodded once, and made as if to leave.

Garnet frowned. "Avalanche?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think we should have a medic look at that sparkling?"

They all knew which one they were talking about.

"I don't just mean call one in to check and see if he's got a virus. We know he's physically healthy enough. But I have never seen a sparkling carry on…"

"Like the world is ending?" Torque suggested.

Garnet shot him a look. "…for so long,"

"I don't know," Avalanche said. "I doubt there's anything actually wrong with him, but there might be. It could have been caused by his guardians breaking their bond with him so early on. I've never gotten one that young before." According to the medic, he'd been sparked less than a decaorn before his creators had left him at the orphanage. "In which case, there's nothing we can do about it. I wish we had the resources to get some kind of special care for each of the sparklings who needed it, but we don't. I _have_ thought about this before, Garnet."

She looked down.

"If it doesn't get better when he's a little older, we'll look into getting him some professional help. For now, just do your best. I know he's a handful."

"Doesn't play well with the other sparklings either," Torque said.

"I'm aware of that," Avalanche said. "Thank you both for all you do. I couldn't run this place without you. It's not a particularly easy job."

"It doesn't pay much either," Torque said.

"I love it," Garnet shot Torque another look "I'm here as long as you need me, Avalanche."

Avalanche nodded.

"And Torque secretly likes the job too," Garnet said. "He's practically still a sparkling."

"Excuse me?"

"Ok," Avalanche said. "You can go now. Your shift is over."

"Thanks boss," Torque said, and led the way out the door. Avalanche sighed and shook his helm. It _was_ sometimes like having two extra sparklings here, especially when they were bickering. They ought to just get bonded already.

* * *

 **Age: Two Vorns**

Sunstreaker sketched on the datapad. It was almost like the drawing took shape on its own. He filled in light and shadow and color almost instinctively, transferring the image in his processor onto the datapad.

Garnet said his drawings were good. She said she wished he could get lessons so he could learn to draw better.

Sunstreaker thought those two statements contradicted each other.

He didn't need to learn how to draw if he was already good at it.

Something didn't feel right.

He looked down at his drawing. It was a picture of a big, scary, wolf-shaped symbiot. It had jagged sharp teeth and it crouched, ready to spring.

Sunstreaker frowned. Then he saved it and opened a new file. There was something he had been itching to draw all orn, but he hadn't figured out what yet. What was it? A stifling panic descended on him, and he scooted over to the wall and turned his helm so his faceplate was pressed against it. He shuttered his optics and waited for the feeling to go away.

When it retreated he looked back down at the blank datapad. "I need to draw something," he muttered, then scooted away from the wall. He was torn between facing the direction of the wall and facing the doorway. He didn't want to leave his back exposed to the rest of the room. He didn't trust the other younglings.

He turned to face the wall anyway, because it felt like the right direction, and hunched down over the datapad to draw.

He just let his fingers do what they wanted. An idea formed in his processor and simultaneously took shape on the datapad.

Sunstreaker sketched a youngling standing outside in the sun. The mech's helm was cocked to the side a little, and he was smiling mischievously. He cast a small shadow on the uneven ground around him.

What color should he be?

Red. Yes. Red was a good color. Sunstreaker carefully filled in the youngling's armor with red. It stood out against the mostly-gray background.

He made the mech's optics gold, like his own, and started filling in the little details.

"What's that?"

Sunstreaker jumped, nearly messing up his picture. He turned around to glare at the youngling femme standing behind him. "Go away," he hissed.

"What are you drawing? You've had that thing for joors now. I want a turn."

"No," Sunstreaker growled. "I'm not done with it."

"You're never done with it. When you finish a drawing, you just start a new one!" Chalice said, pouting. She and Hubcap were always trying to take it away from him.

"Just go away," he said. "Leave me alone."

"It's not fair." She tried to see his drawing. "You _always_ get the datapad. We're supposed to share!"

Sunstreaker held the datapad close to him. Some of the other younglings were watching now. A few wandered over.

Then Garnet came over. "Hey, mechlings," she sat down on the floor next to Sunstreaker. "Can we get along, please? We're going to start school in a few breems, so how about Sunstreaker can have the datapad until then, and then I'll take it. Then after school it'll be your turn, Chalice."

"But…" Chalice said.

"But I'm not finished!" Sunstreaker said.

"What are you drawing? Show me."

Sunstreaker didn't want to show her, not with everyone else looking.

"Come on. I want to see. I'm sure it's really good."

Reluctantly, Sunstreaker turned around and faced the datapad away from himself.

"Wow," Garnet said. "The shading on that's really well-done."

"Who is it?" Chalice asked.

"What's shading?" Hubcap demanded.

Everyone was looking now. Sunstreaker wanted to hide.

"I don't recognize him," Garnet said. "He's probably not anyone, Chalice."

That made Sunstreaker mad, though he wasn't sure why. "He _is_ someone."

Garnet looked surprised. But then she smiled. "Who is he? A friend? What's his designation?"

Sunstreaker looked down. He didn't know who it was. He'd just randomly drawn this mech. Who was he? Sunstreaker studied him, thinking hard, trying to figure out where he'd seen the little red youngling before.

"There isn't anyone who looks like that," Vanilla said. "He's just making it up."

"Yes there is," Sunstreaker said. "He _is_ my friend. His designation is…" he hesitated. It was just barely out of reach. "Is…"

Everyone was looking at him. Sunstreaker turned to the side, to face the wall again.

"It's ok if he doesn't have a designation," Garnet said.

"Sideswipe." Sunstreaker said. "His designation is Sideswipe. And he's a real mech."

Everyone was quiet. Why were they still looking at him?

"Sideswipe," Garnet said. "That's a good designation."

"I don't know anyone with that designation," one of the other younglings said, sounding very confused.

"He's an imaginary friend," Garnet explained. "You can have one too if you want."

"He's not imaginary."

Garnet didn't acknowledge what Sunstreaker had said. "Well… it's almost time to start school for the orn, so please hurry up and finish drawing him so we can get started."

Sunstreaker turned to face the wall again and waited for everyone else to drift away before he started working on his drawing.

"How do you know he's real?" Chalice asked, still standing behind him.

Sunstreaker didn't answer.

"I think you were lying."

Sunstreaker saved his picture, then spun and threw the datapad at her. She screamed and tried to get out of the way, but wasn't fast enough.

"Sunstreaker!" Garnet didn't raise her voice very often. Except when she was talking to Sunstreaker. They all seemed to like yelling at him. He waited for her to say more. She wouldn't tell him he shouldn't throw things. She knew that he _knew_ that. Instead, she'd just punish him.

Chalice was crying.

"If you can't share nicely and use that datapad the way it's meant to be, you shouldn't be using it at all. Chalice, sweetspark, it's ok. Come here. Bring that datapad too, would you?"

Sunstreaker shuttered his optics. Something welled up inside of him. This wasn't fair. Nothing was fair. Everyone hated him. He buried his faceplate in his hands and started wailing too.

No one tried to comfort him.

* * *

They didn't have a teacher. School was just Garnet or Torque teaching all the younglings. Once you were old enough to go to secondary school they sent you to the nearest one, but before that you just got the caretakers.

Sunstreaker figured real school might be less boring, but he wasn't sure.

Afterward, they got to go outside.

Sunstreaker wandered over to his favorite place by the southwest fence. He liked to watch the alt modes go by, and the occasional mech or femme. Sometimes they'd notice him. A few even smiled and waved at him. He wished they wouldn't.

"Hey, Sunny," someone said.

He hated it when they called him that.

"What was your imaginary friend's designation again?"

Sunstreaker turned around as two other younglings approached him.

Chalice and one of her friends. They didn't look happy. Chalice still had a little dent on her faceplate from where the datapad had hit.

"Go away."

"It was side… sidesomething."

"Sidestupid?" the second femme said.

Chalice giggled.

"Sideswipe." Sunstreaker growled. "And he's not imaginary." He wasn't even entirely sure why he was convinced of this. But the idea was too compelling. Another youngling, his same age, who was his friend. Someone he could play with, who wasn't mean and selfish like everyone else.

This mech had to be real.

"Stupidswipe," the other femme said. "That was it."

Sunstreaker shoved away from the fence with a shout. He lunged at the two femmes, but they ran away, screaming, but not really scared.

Sunstreaker went back to his spot by the fence, hoping he'd scared them off.

But they came back after a few breems, and this time they brought a larger crowd.

* * *

There were different kinds of noise, Torque had learned. Working with sparklings you had to be able to listen for them. A quiet chatter, with the occasional bout of giggling or happy shouting was the right sound for younglings playing outside.

But if it got too quiet, or too loud, you knew something was up.

Something was definitely up.

He walked out the open front door and almost crashed into Phosphora coming in.

"Torque!" she said. "I was going to come get you! They're being mean…"

She pointed to where the large majority of the other younglings were gathered by the fence.

"Thanks, Phos." Torque slipped past her and out into the sunlight. He went over to investigate.

Before he reached them, there was another enraged shout and they all backed away. Torque watched as Sunstreaker tackled another one of the younglings.

"Hey!" he said when he had almost reached them. The other sparklings scattered.

Sunstreaker raised a fist as if to punch the mech he was on top of, but Torque grabbed him and lifted him off of his fellow youngling. "What are you doing!"

The other youngling scrambled away and ran too.

Sunstreaker glared at him, venting hard, but getting that familiar helpless look in his optics.

"Don't even think about having a tantrum," Torque said. "You do _not_ hit the other younglings. I don't care _what_ the circumstances are…"

"Mr. Torque, they were being mean to him," Phosphora said from behind him.

Torque looked around. All the other younglings had gone inside.

"You're hurting my arm!" Sunstreaker said.

Torque set him down. Sunstreaker sat down and put his arms around his knees, trembling.

Torque wasn't sure how to feel about this. Normally, Sunstreaker was the one who bothered his peers. He almost thought it was fitting that they should get back at him.

But then he felt bad for thinking it. Sunstreaker might be overdramatic, stubborn, violent, and impossible to reason with, but the other younglings shouldn't pick on him.

"Ok," he said. "Come on, Sunny."

"Don't call me that!" Sunstreaker said, getting back to his pedes. He shoved past Torque, and shot Phosphora an acidic glare before storming toward the building.

* * *

"This is my fault," Garnet said. "I should have just… I don't know."

They were having what Torque liked to call a Sunstreaker meeting. Garnet didn't like that name. They didn't _always_ just discuss the little yellow youngling in the meetings. There were a few other mechlings they occasionally called meetings to talk about.

Usually, it was Sunstreaker, though.

"It's not your fault," Torque said. "There was no way to know he'd take such offense that no one will play along with him about his imaginary friend."

A volunteer had come in to read a story to all of the mechlings in the orphanage. The event had left Garnet, Torque, and Avalanche free to have their meeting. Sunstreaker hadn't wanted to participate in story time, though. He'd claimed to feel sick, and had gone up to the room where all the younglings recharged.

"I should have just dropped the issue." Garnet had seen the betrayal in the youngling's optics when she'd explained that the mech in his drawing wasn't real. She hoped she hadn't completely lost his trust. They'd been making some headway with him.

"He needs to stop caring so much," Torque said. "He needs to learn that in the real world you can't just tell lies and yell at everyone until they believe them."

"He doesn't mean to tell lies," Garnet said. "I think he just really wants a friend."

"You think he actually believes his imaginary friend is real?"

"That's not what I said." Garnet glared at him. "I said he doesn't have any friends, and he's trying to find a way to feel better about that. I'm actually _glad_ he has an imaginary friend. I just wish I'd played along so the other younglings wouldn't get all…"

"The reason he doesn't have any friends is because he hasn't learned to get along with the others. He can't just invent a friend. He needs to learn how to…"

"Stop," Avalanche said.

Garnet looked down. They were too hard on him. Sunstreaker needed them to at least try to understand him. His processor just worked a little differently. That was no reason to be angry at him. He just didn't know how to correctly express his emotions… or something like that. If they could only get him to a psychologist…

"I think in this case all of the younglings are in the wrong," Avalanche said. "The others were teasing him, and Sunstreaker reacted badly. They all know better. Just take some time at the beginning of school next orn to talk about it," he looked at Torque, who would be teaching the next orn.

Garnet wished she could take the younglings instead of him. Torque could be kind of tactless and stupid about these things.

"And then they'll lose the privilege of going outside for three orns," Avalanche said. "And they'll be warned that any further offenses of this sort will be punished as well. I don't want any teasing or bullying in my orphanage. I also will not tolerate Sunstreaker's violence. We need these mecha to grow up in a safe environment. They need to learn to get along with each other better."

"Boss," Garnet said. "Sunstreaker…"

"I know you feel sorry for him. I'm glad he's got such a strong advocate. He needs your compassion. He also needs to learn that he can't solve his problems by hitting other mecha…"

"How do we teach him that?" Garnet asked.

Avalanche seemed to think for a few astroseconds. Then he shook his helm. "I don't know. You say he doesn't have any friends? None at all?"

Garnet and Torque looked at each other. Garnet shook her helm. "None."

"Do you think any of them would be willing to try befriending him?"

"It's not like they haven't," Torque said. "He's not particularly approachable."

"Phosphora's very sweet and level-helmed," Garnet said. "But he seems to dislike her, and I don't want to ask her to try and befriend him when it'll probably backfire…"

"He dislikes everymech." Torque said. "And Phos isn't stubborn enough. She might try, but then she'd get her feelings hurt and give up."

"One of the older ones, maybe," Garnet said. "Like, to be a mentor figure."

"Yeah," Torque said. "Someone he couldn't beat up."

Avalanche nodded. "We'll think about it. That might help some."

"For now, we've got work to do."

Torque nodded and they all stood up and left Avalanche's office. Garnet went upstairs to check on Sunstreaker.

He was lying on his berth. His optics were open, but he was still and silent, and he didn't look at her as she approached.

He was almost always staring that direction. Garnet had nearly given up trying to figure out why. That was the direction he'd been running too, back when he was a sparkling and had escaped. He'd said he was going home.

It wasn't possible that he knew where his creators were, though. His bond with them had been broken just barely after he'd been sparked.

Torque was probably right, and he just had some processor damage of some kind.

"Sunstreaker?"

His faceplate contorted into a mask of anger. "I hate you."

"Are you ok?"

"Leave me alone," he growled.

Not in a good mood. "Let me know if you need anything, okay?"

He didn't answer. She walked away, and out the door. As she walked down the stairs, she unsubspaced the datapad she'd confiscated earlier in the orn. The picture of the little red mech was still on there. She studied it, smiling slightly. You couldn't help it. Sunstreaker's imaginary friend was adorable, and there was so much _personality_ in his expression.

The drawing was really amazing. For a youngling only two vorns old, Sunstreaker was quite the prodigy. Garnet's smile faded. It was tragic, really. He probably wouldn't ever be able to use his talent for much. No one bought art from penniless orphans.

And despite his innate ability, Sunstreaker would never be professional without training. Even if they had the means, somehow Garnet didn't think the little yellow mech would let anyone teach him to draw.

She sighed. Poor Sunstreaker. "I wish you _were_ real," she said quietly to the drawing. "Maybe you could help him."

Sideswipe just kept smiling back at her, with his helm cocked to the side and a mischievous glint in his yellow optics.

* * *

Notes:

1\. Torque mentioned that most couples only have one sparkling. In my headcanon, it's culturally frowned upon to raise more than one sparkling (unless they're twins. Everyone thinks twins are cool) at a time. This is partly because sparklings are much more difficult to raise than human children. Also, unlike human couples, Cybertronians don't lose their ability to reproduce when they get older. They also live a really really really long time. They can raise a sparkling to adulthood, take a break for several vorns, and then raise another one. And another one. And just keep going.

2\. Consequently, Cybertronians don't have strong family units the way we humans do. In fact, once you move out, you don't usually visit your creators anymore, and often siblings won't even know each other.


	2. Imprisoned

**Age: Three Orns**

"He's so precious!" Seafoam's best friend handed her back the sparkling. Seafoam looked down into his yellow optics, smiling at him.

She couldn't be happier.

The little red sparkling had cried for a long time the off-cycle before but had finally calmed down and slipped into recharge. Since then, he hadn't cried at all.

He was perfect.

Her sparkmate, Top Speed, was on the other side of the room, sipping high grade and describing the trip back from Simfur to a group of their friends. Of course, he left out their little detour.

"Do you have a designation for him yet?" one of Seafoam's friends asked.

Seafoam shook her helm. "Not yet."

"You had the whole drive home and you still couldn't think of anything?" Another femme asked. "Come on, Seafoam."

They had been busy talking about other things besides designations.

"Well, you can help me come up with one if you like."

"Let me see him," another friend said. Seafoam passed off her sparkling. The other femme peered into the little mech's optics. "He's so sweet… too bad you can't tell what their personalities are going to be like this young."

"Some don't designate their sparklings for a little while."

"But you also shouldn't wait too long."

"My Sparkmate and I took almost a whole quartex to designate ours."

Seafoam nodded-she had plenty of time. She glanced over at Top Speed again. They had planned this party long in advance. All of their friends were having sparklings and they'd decided they ought to join in. She'd been a little bit worried about it. Sometimes her friends would complain about how much work it was to raise a sparkling.

But so far, it hadn't been too bad. And he was an adorable little thing. It was nice to feel his tiny spark pulsing through their bond.

The bond wasn't as strong as it had been before… but that wasn't really a problem. It was still there, so it was fine. Everything would be fine. This would be fun.

"Are you ok?"

"Huh?" Seafoam said. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry. I was just thinking." She needed to stop worrying about this. The crisis had been averted. She had to forget about it and enjoy the party.

She took her sparkling back from the femme who was holding him, and smiled down at him. "Love you, sweetspark," she said.

He looked back up at her with his softly-glowing optics.

* * *

 **Age: Half A Vorn**

"I'm done," Sideswipe said, pushing his still-full cube of energon away from himself.

"You are not," Top Speed said. "You finish that."

"Don't want it!" the sparkling said, and tried to slide off of his femme creator's lap, but she caught him.

"Sweetspark, you need to eat."

The little red sparkling crossed his arms and looked down. "Let me go."

"Not until you're finished," Top Speed said. The little mech never finished his energon. He always had some excuse or other. And then he'd get up in the middle of the off-cycle, asking for fuel. Or sometimes he'd just run himself so low that he got sick. Seafoam was always worried about it, but Top Speed refused to believe there was actually something wrong with the sparkling. He was just being difficult. Some sparklings were difficult.

"But I don't feel good!" Sideswipe said. "I wanna go outside."

"Absolutely not."

"If you finish your energon you can go out in the yard for a few breems before the sun goes down," Seafoam said. "How about that?"

"But I don't want it."

Top Speed got up with his empty cube. "I'm tired of this game," he said. "If you don't drink it I'll have Seafoam hold you down and I'll pour it past your lip plates."

"Speed," Seafoam said, sending disapproval over their bond.

"That's why he's sick all the time. He doesn't get enough energon."

The sparkling reached up and stuck his fist in the cube of energon. "Look, I'm leaking!" he waved a dripping hand in Seafoam's faceplate.

She grabbed his arm. "Sideswipe, stop it."

"Lemme go!"

"Ugh, you're making a mess,"

"I'm not hungry! Put me down!"

Seafoam set him down on the ground and started wiping drips of energon off of her paint with a mesh rag she'd pulled out of subspace.

"Can I go outside?"

"You need to finish your energon." Seafoam said.

"That's not fair!"

"It is fair." Top Speed said.

"But I'm not hungry!"

"Sideswipe," Seafoam said, with a dangerous warning tone in her voice.

Sideswipe sprinted for the doorway. "I'm gonna go play," he said as he went. Then he stopped at the edge of the room, and turned around. "Love you, Seafoam!" He smiled, then turned and ran off.

Seafoam shook her helm, smiling as well.

"And there he goes. You did it again," Top Speed said. "You can't just let him get away with that."

"He's just a sparkling," Seafoam said. "He'll probably be hungry before it's time to recharge."

Top Speed shook his helm. "One would hope. Little pit-spawn."

"He's adorable, though," Seafoam said.

Right. Top Speed went to get the mostly-full cube of energon on the table. He put a lid on the container and set it on the counter for later.

* * *

Sideswipe stood at the base of the cupboard, staring toward the top. It stretched upward above him. Its smooth chrome doors were covered with magnets and reminders. It was an imposing obstacle.

But there were energon treats up there. He could see them faintly glowing in the darkness.

Sideswipe walked over to the table. He grabbed a chair leg and pulled. His pedes slid all over the floor and the chair barely moved.

If he made too much noise, his creators would come out of recharge. He vented hard and pulled again. The chair scraped against the floor, but Sideswipe didn't stop. He pulled harder, joints straining. He needed those energon treats. His tanks weren't nearly full enough.

Eventually, he got the chair over by the cupboard. Then he scrambled up onto the seat, smirking.

Then he scaled the back of the chair, and stood balanced on the edge. He reached up as far as he could. He was still too short.

That wouldn't stop him.

He tried to jump, but he couldn't. The back of the chair was pressed too close to the cupboard. So he scrambled back down to the ground and pushed it a little farther away.

Then he climbed up again.

The cupboard was too high. He knew it was.

He didn't care. He crouched down and sprang, reaching for the lip on the top. He didn't quite make it, but scrambled up using the magnets. They slid down as he grabbed at them, but he managed to use them to get to the top.

He pulled himself up with a triumphant shout and turned around to sit with his pedes dangling off the edge. He grinned, looking out over the room. Then he reached for the container of energon treats.

He'd only eaten two when he heard movement from the other room. Oh no.

Sideswipe scooted to the wall and crouched low. Maybe they wouldn't see him.

The light turned on and Seafoam came in, looking sleepy.

Sideswipe crept forward again. He had a great idea.

"What…"

"Helms up!" Sideswipe shouted and shoved the container of treats off the cupboard.

Seafoam screamed and leaped backward, crashing into the counter. Energon treats went everywhere. Sideswipe laughed.

"Sideswipe!" Seafoam shouted at him.

Top Speed came running through the door. "What in pit… Hey!"

Sideswipe stood up. "Score!" he said.

"Get down!" Top Speed stomped across the room toward the cabinet.

Sideswipe backed away from the edge of the cupboard, giggling.

"How did he get _up_ there?" Seafoam said.

Top Speed stepped up onto the chair. Sideswipe charged past him and leaped off.

He felt a rush of atmosphere around him and for a moment, it was like he was hanging in the air. Then he started to fall. Time slowed down.

Seafoam screamed again and darted forward to catch him. She grabbed him but crashed into the chair, knocking it over.

Top Speed and the chair tumbled toward the ground.

 _bangCRASHclatter_ …

When the echoes faded, Sideswipe was still laughing.

"Speed!" Seafoam stood up straight, clutching Sideswipe.

Top Speed moaned and sat up. "Argh!" He put a hand to his helm. "Sparkling!"

"That was awesome!" Sideswipe said. "Let's do it again!"

Top Speed got up. "You're supposed to be recharging!"

"How did you get up there?" Seafoam asked.

They fell silent.

Sideswipe realized that he might just be in trouble. He suddenly felt small and helpless.

"That was dangerous, sweetspark," Seafoam said.

"But…" Sideswipe said. "But I was hungry."

* * *

 **Age: Two Vorns**

Sideswipe didn't really know what to do. They'd put an energy shield up so he couldn't climb the back fence anymore. And the front door was locked.

They always got so mad when he left. But he wasn't really running away. He was going to come back. Just as soon as he'd had a long enough adventure. He was going on a quest, like the characters in his favorite holovids.

He was going to search the whole world for… something. He could never decide on what he was looking for. Seeker pirate treasure, or magical ancient relics… or something else… something more exciting than those… He wasn't sure what it was, but he _needed_ to find it.

They didn't seem to understand that, though. They said it was dangerous and that he'd get lost and that he needed to stay nearby blah blah blah. They said he could pretend to be going on an adventure in the yard or at the park. But the park was _definitely_ the wrong direction. He needed to go northeast, not west. All good heroes went northeast.

A warning flashed in his processor. His tanks were too low. He needed more energon. Sideswipe ignored it, and rushed at the fence. He bounced off the invisible barrier and landed in a dramatic crouch. "What's this?" he said. "Our brave hero is trapped." He looked around the yard. "How will he escape?" He'd tried almost everything. The chairs from inside didn't stack high enough, and even if they did, his creators were inside, probably sitting in them.

Sideswipe picked up a small square block and threw it as high as he could. It went up and over the barrier. "He'll have to cause a distraction," he said. "And slip past the guards before they notice." He turned to go inside, but then stopped. He peered through the fence at the road beyond it. Something was pulling him that way. He could feel it.

There was something wrong with him that made him sick. Something that hurt, and never stopped hurting. He could sometimes almost hear it, screaming.

He felt dizzy. Another low fuel warning pinged in his processor.

"Our brave hero is starving," he said. "He's not going to make it," He got down on the ground and crawled toward the door. "Who can save him?"

He wished he had someone to play with.

The door opened for him and he crawled inside, then got up again and walked toward the kitchen. He slowed down, though, before he got there. He could hear them talking—arguing.

"We can't send him to school."

Sideswipe heard Top Speed sigh.

"I can't do it. I just can't. He won't…"

"Femme," Top Speed said. "He should have been in school a vorn ago! You can't hold on to him forever!"

"We have to lock him inside so he doesn't run off."

"And it'll be good for us! We need a fragging break."

"And they'll know there's something different about him," She was scared. Sideswipe could just barely feel it over the bond.

"There's nothing different about him," Top Speed said. "He's just spoiled."

"It can't just be that," Seafoam said.

They fell silent.

"You know why," Seafoam continued.

"If that were the reason, don't you think he'd have… I don't know, gotten over it by now? It's been almost two vorns."

Sideswipe inched closer, audios straining. What were they talking about?

"My poor, sweet little sparkling," Seafoam said. "What if this is our fault? He's sick all the time, and he doesn't recharge, and…"

"And he gets into trouble every chance he has. I am tired of watching him every astrosecond! It's time for someone else to do it. They'll take good care of him. We'll just tell them that he likes to run away, and warn them…"

"But…"

"And he needs an outlet. I'm sure he'll be great at sports, just like I was."

Something compelled Sideswipe forward into the kitchen. "I want to go to school!" he said.

They stared at him.

"What?"

"How long have you been there?" Top Speed was angry, but he might just be scared too. Sideswipe wanted to ask what they'd been talking about, but they wouldn't tell him. They never told him anything.

Sideswipe shrugged. "Can I go to school?" he asked again.

"Yes," Top Speed said. "You can."

"But…" Seafoam protested.

"He _can,_ " Top Speed growled. "That's the end of it." He walked past Sideswipe and down the hall. "I have to go to work."

Sideswipe was tempted to chase after him and try to slip out the front door when he opened it, but Top Speed wasn't in a good mood. So it was better to just go talk to Seafoam. Besides, he already had a plan to get out.

He approached the table. Seafoam was still worried.

"Don't be scared," Sideswipe said, climbing up on the chair Top Speed had been sitting in. "I'll like school. There will be other younglings my age there." And probably lots of fun things to do and more adults to mess with.

And, of course, plenty of opportunites to go on adventures.

"I know, sweetspark," Seafoam said. "I just don't want to lose you."

Another low fuel warning flashed in Sideswipe's processor. He wasn't exactly sure what she meant by that. But he was starting to feel weak. "I'm hungry," he said quietly.

It always cheered her up when he said that. She went and got him a cube of energon. He drank some of it. The first few mouthfuls were good. He waited until he felt them hit his tanks. His dizziness faded away, and he smiled and drank some more.

But then his tanks started to ache. He forced down another few mouthfuls, enough that the warnings in his processor went away.

Then he set down the cube. It was still a little more than half full.

He could tell Seafoam was still worried about him.

"Seafoam?" he said.

"Yes, Sideswipe?"

"Why do I always feel sick?"

She knew the answer. She'd just been talking to Top Speed about it. Maybe if he acted really sad, she'd tell him.

"I don't know, sweetspark," she said. "We probably ought to have a medic look at you…"

Sideswipe had only been to a medic once, when he'd fallen off of something and broken his hand.

"Do you _always_ feel sick?"

Sideswipe nodded. Then he looked down. "Is there something wrong with me?"

"No, sweetspark, you're going to be fine. You're fine."

"Seafoam?"

"Yes?"

"I… I accidentally threw a toy over the fence. Can you get it for me?"

She sighed, feeling relieved for some reason. "All right."

Sideswipe followed her out to the yard. She put the energy shield down and went to open the back fence. Sideswipe got ready.

She opened the gate.

Sideswipe charged.

He almost made it.

Seafoam grabbed him as he tried to slip past her. "Sideswipe!"

"Our hero is caught!" he said. "He tries to break free of the monster's grasp!"

"Stop it!" Seafoam said as Sideswipe struggled. She carried him yelling and fighting all the way inside, then set him down. She walked out, then shut the back door and locked it behind herself. Sideswipe watched her leave the yard, bring back the toy, close the gate, and then put the shield back up.

Then she came back inside for him. She was angry.

"Sideswipe!" she said. _"This_ is why you can't go to school! You make me feel sorry for you and then you go and do something like that! You…"

"I want to go to school!" Sideswipe said.

"Don't give me any of that," Seafoam said. "Go to your room! Now!"

"But…"

"Go!" She grabbed him and dragged him to his room. She shoved him in and stood in the doorway, staring at him.

She shuttered her optics and vented a sigh. "I'm sorry," she said. "I just want to keep you safe. If you can't behave, you can't go to school, understand?"

Sideswipe didn't understand.

"I love you, sweetspark. You can come out in a joor, all right?"

Sideswipe smiled at her. "Love you, Seafoam," he said.

She shut the door.

Sideswipe sat, then spread out on the ground. "Our brave hero lies in his cell, pretending to recharge." He felt sick. "Really, he's just plotting his escape. He'll reach his quest some orn."

They wouldn't let him go to school. He had to behave in order to go to school. He didn't see what was so wrong with going on adventures. He might even find what he was looking for—whatever that was. Maybe it was a giant cavern full of valuable crystals.

Sideswipe shuttered his optics. Maybe he could recharge for a few breems. Then he would feel better. It always got worse when he didn't have anything to do. "Our brave hero…"

Sideswipe sat up. Seafoam had anticipated him. Maybe if he was really good for a little while, they'd get out of practice stopping him. Maybe if he was good, they'd let him go to school. Maybe he could wait for the perfect opportunity.

Then they wouldn't be able to stop him fast enough.

Sideswipe smirked, and lay back down, hands under his helm. "Our hero comes up with a plan. It's bold, daring, unexpected." He said. "And foolproof."

The sick feeling intensified, and Sideswipe shuttered his optics, biting back a moan. But the feeling backed off after an astrosecond. Maybe his quest was to find something that would fix whatever was wrong with him. A cure.

He liked that idea. "He'll find the cure," he said. "But will he find it before the virus offlines him? No one knows. Find out next week in episode thirty-seven."

It had a nice ring to it.

In the meantime, he could rig a booby trap for Top Speed when he came home. Sideswipe smiled to himself, trying to figure out the best way to do that as he drifted off into recharge.


	3. Separated

**Age: Two and a Half Vorns**

"I'm sure you know why you're here."

The wind outside was pulling on the window. It wanted to come in.

"Young mech, are you listening to me?"

Sunstreaker nodded slightly. He was listening. He didn't particularly care about this conversation, but he was listening.

"Do you have anything to tell me about what you did this orn? Keep in mind that excuses are not going to help you."

Everyone called this mech 'the boss' though he had a designation. He was in charge of the orphanage. Some of the orphans liked him. Sunstreaker didn't.

"He asked for it."

The boss's lip plates parted and he stared at Sunstreaker like there was something wrong with him—like he was crazy. They all thought he was crazy, he knew they did even though they denied it, he could see it in their optics. "You… Sunstreaker, you sent one of your peers to the _hospital!_ There is no justification for that! If the other students are teasing you, you can go to the caretakers."

"They won't help," Sunstreaker said. "They never help. He stole my datapad."

"That's ridiculous," The boss said. "You know that wasn't your datapad. We all have to share here. Now I understand he was mocking your imaginary friend."

"He's not imaginary," Sunstreaker said.

The boss let out a heavy ex-vent. "You are two and a half vorns old."

"He is. Not. Imaginary."

"Sunstreaker... there is no such person. I can't fathom what would make you think that there is. You can't honestly believe…"

"I know he's real," Sunstreaker said.

"You're lying to me."

"No."

"Stop lying."

"No!"

The room swallowed the sound and waited expectantly for more shouting.

"This has gone far enough," the boss said. "We have tried everything. We even managed to save up to get a psychiatrist to visit and talk to you, but you wouldn't cooperate. I know it is hard for you that your creators left you here, and I don't mind that you have an imaginary friend. I don't even care if you want to pretend he's real. The issue here is that you _insist_ he's real, to the point where you are willing to physically harm someone else in defense of that claim."

Sunstreaker crossed his arms. "He's real."

"How do you know that?"

"How do you know anything?" Sunstreaker said. "I just know."

"I have asked you repeatedly to stop lying to me. You can't 'just know' something, you have to learn it from somewhere."

"Well, Sideswipe is real, all right? I'm not lying."

"Have you ever met him?"

Sunstreaker glared. "No."

"Have you ever spoken to him or communicated with him?"

"No."

"I don't understand," The boss said.

"You don't ever understand anything!" Sunstreaker glared at him. "Ever!"

The boss was looking at him, but Sunstreaker didn't want to meet his optics.

"You're right," the boss said. "I just don't get it. Sometimes I'm half-tempted to think you actually believe what you're saying."

Silence fell.

"And that scares me, Sunstreaker."

"I'm not crazy!"

"Then you're lying."

Sunstreaker bit back his response. If they decided he was crazy, they might send him to a mental hospital, where they would lock him up and ask too many questions and study him. Sunstreaker wasn't crazy. He couldn't let them think he was crazy.

"Your outdoor privileges are gone for a quartex," the boss said. "And here's what I need from you. I need you to promise me that you will never ever intentionally hurt one of the other younglings again. And I need you to admit that your imaginary friend isn't real."

Sunstreaker clenched his fists under the table and looked away.

"Sunstreaker."

"What if I won't?" Sunstreaker growled.

"You _will_ ," the boss said.

Sunstreaker finally met his optics. "You can't make me do anything."

The boss had reached his limit. Sunstreaker could see it. Something terrible was going to happen. He needed his datapad back. What if the boss deleted all of his drawings? Sunstreaker had worked so hard on those.

The boss got up from his desk. "I can't," he said. "You're right. But I can strongly encourage. Come with me."

Sunstreaker didn't move.

The boss came around the desk and grabbed Sunstreaker's arm. Sunstreaker dug in his pedes, but didn't really struggle.

He didn't know if he'd ever seen the boss this angry before. But it really wasn't Sunstreaker's fault. Other mecha should know better than to provoke him. Hubcap had made trouble for himself on purpose. Sunstreaker was not going to apologize.

Garnet was standing outside in the hallway.

"Boss…" she said, trailing off. She looked worried.

The boss ignored her and continued to drag Sunstreaker.

They went around the corner and to a supply closet. The boss shoved Sunstreaker in it and closed the door. Sunstreaker heard the little ping that meant it was locked.

He could barely see by the light of his optics.

"You can come out when you're willing to do as I asked," the boss said. "Is that clear?"

Sunstreaker didn't answer.

"And you won't be getting any energon in there, either," he said. "So you'd better think very seriously about it. All I'm asking for is an apology and a promise. It's not like that's difficult."

They wouldn't give him any energon until he told them Sideswipe was fake.

He was going to die here.

After a few moments he heard the boss walk away. Then he heard Garnet's voice, talking to the other mech, but he couldn't make out what they were saying.

Sunstreaker sat against the back of the closet.

Before too long, he had some visitors. They banged on the door and shouted through it and laughed.

"Hey, Sunny, you talking to your _friend_ in there?"

"You don't have any _real_ friends."

"Nobody wanted you! You got abandoned!"

"Stupid-swipe's not real, but you're too dumb to know it."

"Probably thinks Stupid's going to come rescue him, doesn't he?"

"Stupid-swipe, Stupid-swipe."

"I bet even if he _was_ real, he wouldn't be friends with you. Crazy freak."

Eventually, Garnet came by and chased them away. Sunstreaker pulled his legs up and put his arms around them. He buried his helm in his knees and tried not to cry.

Maybe he _was_ crazy.

* * *

The bell rang. School was over.

Sideswipe jumped out of his chair and tried to be the first one out the door, but the teacher caught him. "Hold on one klick," she said. "Where are you going in such a hurry?"

Sideswipe huffed.

"I told you to come see me after class."

"Sorry," Sideswipe said, adjusting his bulging backpack. "I forgot."

"Do you have the assignment you were missing? Your femme creator told me she'd made you do it, and that you'd turn it in this orn."

"I…" Sideswipe scooted toward the door, and the crowd of students who were now heading out of it. "I… have to get home."

"Sideswipe," the teacher said. "Do you have the assignment?"

"Uh… no." he lied. But he didn't want to have to open his bulging backpack. He'd found something awesome in one of the closets during recess and he didn't want it to get confiscated before he used it to freak Seafoam out.

"Here, let's look for it in your bag."

"Wait," Sideswipe said. "I think I know where it is. Just…"

"What is _in_ your bag? Why is it so full?" the teacher said, snatching it from him.

Sideswipe braced himself.

She opened the bag.

And screamed.

And dropped it.

Sideswipe grabbed it and turned to sprint out the door past the last few students who had stopped when the teacher had shouted. Sideswipe closed the bag again, worried that the dead symbiot would fall out. He didn't want to lose it.

He ran all the way to the transport that would take him home.

The transport filled with other students as the rest of the school let out. It was a big one, with lots of seats. Not as big as the mass transit units that took you from city to city if you couldn't afford a groundbridge.

Sideswipe had never been anywhere else.

They had meant to go to Iacon once, but Sideswipe had gotten really, really sick before they'd even left the city limits.

Before too long, he was home. He had been very good. He hadn't tried to run away at all in quartexes. He'd be able to make his move soon. Not yet, though.

"Hi Seafoam!"

"Hi, sweetspark," she said. "Did you turn in your missing assignment?"

"Uh… yeah," Sideswipe said.

When she wasn't looking, he could put the dead symbiot in a cupboard or something. She would find it eventually and freak out.

"You should have some energon," Seafoam said. "And then do your homework." She got out a cube and set it on the table.

"I'm not really hungry," Sideswipe said.

"Please. Just a little."

"I had a bad orn," Sideswipe said.

"Oh no. What happened?"

Sideswipe wasn't exactly sure. He couldn't pinpoint exactly what had upset him. "I… it was just boring. I don't want to go to school anymore."

"You have to go to school."

Sideswipe looked at the energon on the table. Just seeing it made him feel sick. "Well, I'm going to my room." He said.

He went to his room, and pulled the dead symbiot out of his backpack. He couldn't leave it in there. Seafoam was always digging around in his backpack, looking for missing assignments and the like. He shoved the offline frame under his bed. He'd find a better opportunity to hide it later.

For now, he would just play video games until Seafoam came in and insisted that he do his homework.

He started up his console and selected one of his favorite games. But he wasn't really into it this orn. Something was wrong. Sideswipe hated orns like this. He couldn't focus. He couldn't even distract himself.

Sure enough, Seafoam came in and dragged him out to the front room to do his homework. He was trapped at the table, with Seafoam sitting across from him. He looked down at the datapad in front of him.

A warning that he was low on energon pinged in his processor. He ignored it. He didn't even feel hungry. He felt fine.

* * *

"Sideswipe, sweetspark? Please…"

Sideswipe pushed the energon away from him. He didn't want it. "Leave me alone," he said.

"How long has it been since he's had any?" Top Speed asked.

He sounded worried too. Sideswipe just felt dizzy and sick. He put his helm down on the table.

"He could barely get out of his berth this morning. I thought for a breem that he wasn't going to come online."

They'd tried forcing him, but he'd fought them off.

Now, he wasn't sure if he could do that again. He was so dizzy.

"Sideswipe, you're hurting yourself! Just take some energon!"

"I can't." Sideswipe said. "Someone else needs it."

"What?" Top Speed said.

"Someone else… locked in a closet…"

"He's lost it," Top Speed said.

"We need to take him to a medic," Seafoam said.

"No. Sideswipe if you don't drink that energon in five breems, I'm going to pour it down your throat."

Sideswipe didn't answer.

* * *

"Sunstreaker?"

He could smell the energon, just out of reach, but he didn't think he'd be able to pick it up.

"He does not look all right," Garnet's voice said.

"It hasn't been _that_ long," the boss replied. "He should still be fine."

"Just give it to him," Garnet said. "See how dim his optics are?"

"Wait," the boss said. "Sunstreaker, you know what you need to say. You need to stop being stubborn and admit it."

Sunstreaker could smell the energon. It made him feel dizzy. He felt dizzy.

"Sunstreaker. Tell me the truth about Sideswipe."

Tell him that Sideswipe wasn't real.

Did he think Sunstreaker didn't question it sometimes? Did he think Sunstreaker was an idiot? He knew it wasn't reasonable. He knew that just because he could draw this mech so well didn't mean he was real. Sunstreaker had no memory of ever meeting him, but he felt like he _knew_ him. He knew his designation, his personality, the sound of his voice… he'd never heard that voice, but he knew what it sounded like.

And that was impossible.

Did the boss think Sunstreaker never wondered?

"Sunstreaker, this is ridiculous. You are starving yourself over a figment of your imagination." He brought the energon closer to Sunstreaker's faceplate and Sunstreaker could smell it. He could smell it.

"Sunstreaker."

It smelled so good.

"Sunstreaker."

"He's not real."

Silence.

Sunstreaker took a deep vent. "He's not real, he's not real, I just made him up. I just… wanted someone who didn't hate me."

Silence.

"Sunstreaker, we don't hate you." Garnet said.

"All of you hate me," Sunstreaker sobbed. "All of you hate me."

"Here," the boss put the cube of energon in Sunstreaker's hands and Sunstreaker raised it shakily to his lip plates and drank, and felt it bring him back to life.

"You can go back to your room now," the boss said. "And I don't want to hear about Sideswipe again, do you understand?"

Sunstreaker set the empty cube down beside him, buried his faceplate in his arms and sobbed. Sideswipe wasn't real.

* * *

"Hey, Seafoam," Sideswipe said.

"Yes?" she said.

They were still being careful about him since the incident when he had refused to take any energon. He'd given in, after Top Speed had threatened again to force feed him. And since then, he'd been back to normal. He wasn't sure what had happened.

He didn't like school as much as he'd thought he would.

He had thought it would help him, that it would be fun to spend time with other younglings his age.

And he had to admit it _was_ fun sometimes, but it didn't fill that hungry emptiness. And so he had waited. He had behaved. He hadn't tried to run away for a long time now. The term was almost over, and they were hopefully starting to really trust him.

"Can I go over to a friend's house?"

"Can you what? No, sweetspark, it's better for you to stay here."

He had been expecting that. But brave heroes didn't give up easily. "It's not fair! Everyone else goes over to their friends' houses after school but me! How come I can't?"

"I just want to be careful. It's not always safe."

"It's totally safe! I just want to go over to a friend's house. That's all!"

"Calm down, dear."

"I won't calm down! I won't! It's not fair, everyone else gets to go and I don't!"

It took a little more complaining, but eventually she gave in. She usually did. She made him drink some energon first. He did a good job forcing it down, and almost made it to the bottom of the cube. Then, after he was finished, she walked with him to the friend's house. It was a good thing his friend had actually invited him over. He waited while Seafoam talked to his friend's femme creator. Then she left, after making Sideswipe promise to be home in two joors.

He played with his friend for a few breems. But, as soon as he had a good opportunity, he ditched.

As long as he could remember, he had been trying to do this. Everyone said he was trying to run away from home, but they didn't understand. He liked Seafoam and Top Speed. And school was even ok, some of the time. But there was something that he needed to find. He had tried many times to explain that as soon as he found it—whatever it was—he'd stop going to look for it, but they wouldn't believe him.

He was starting to understand that his explanation didn't make much sense to them.

But that didn't stop it from being true.

He still hadn't decided what he was looking for. A cure, a treasure, a secret. All three combined. Something else. He hadn't got a clue where it was, but he knew exactly which direction to go. "Our brave hero," he said, then smiled. He was too old for that game, but it was still kind of fun sometimes. "Our brave hero has found the trail. Now all he needs to do is follow it without being caught, and reach his quest before it's too late." It was kind of weird that he knew which way to go. But he'd _always_ known.

It was just around that bend, just down this street.

He kept walking.

It turned out to be farther away than he thought. The sun started to go down and he was still looking. But he kept going—he wasn't tired.

In fact, he felt good. After drinking so much energon his tanks ought to feel horrible, and they had up until he'd gotten away. But now he felt just fine. He had to hide from an enforcer here and there, and do some quick improvising when adults asked him where he was going and if he was lost.

Darkness fell. Sideswipe kept going. Exhaustion started to catch up to him, but he didn't want to stop. He couldn't stop now. He hid whenever anyone came by, and then kept walking.

Long after dark, with the moons high in the sky and the stars beating weakly down through the city haze, he came to a blocky building and stopped, looking up. It had a high fence around it, and a sign on the front gate. He tilted his helm to the side a little, trying to read the faded glyphs.

Orphanage. It was an orphanage. He frowned at it—there was this general sense of wrongness and rightness together about this place. He was suddenly unsure. Was this it? He could feel that despair that tugged on him once in a while. It was coming from inside that building.

Yes. This was where he was going. He realized he was afraid and took in a deep vent to calm himself. "Our hero has reached the monster's lair. Does he dare enter? He's too far from home to turn back now."

They would be looking for him by now. They'd send out the enforcers again to find him. They'd track him down.

He needed to get through this fence, but when he tried the gate, it was locked.

Well, there were other ways to get in. It was just a gate, not an energy field. Climbing over took a while, because he kept sliding back down, but eventually, he made it to the top and dropped to the other side. The front door of the building was another matter. It was locked, and he didn't feel like knocking, because he didn't trust whoever was in that building. They were probably grownups. They'd probably comm. the enforcers who would drag him away and take him back to Seafoam and Top Speed before he could find what he was looking for.

It was here, though. It was very close.

Maybe when the sun came up again, they'd open the door.

Until then, he needed somewhere to hide.

The yard around the building was sparse, but there was a mostly empty trash receptacle by the fence in one corner. He climbed in and pulled the lid closed. It smelled nasty, but his long walk had made him tired, and he slipped into recharge without much trouble.

* * *

Sunstreaker woke, feeling a familiar sense of panic and desperation. Everything was dark and his chronometer said it was the middle of the off-cycle.

He sat up and rolled off of his berth onto the floor, trying to get to his pedes.

His roommates grumbled, unhappy with being woken this late but Sunstreaker barely noticed as he left the room. He sprinted down the stairs and nearly tripped close to the bottom. He needed to go open the front door. There was something outside he needed to find.

Torque was dozing lightly in the front office, but he came online when Sunstreaker got to the front door. Sunstreaker didn't know the passcode for it.

The mech got up. "Sunstreaker? What are you doing? Get back to your room."

"No!" he said. "No, I need to go outside."

Torque shuttered his optics. "What?"

"I need to go outside! I have to get out there. Open the door."

"No. Go back to recharge. You've been having bad dreams again."

"No I haven't. I just need to go outside, let me go outside, please!" Sunstreaker wasn't even sure why. But the thought of being in here when he _could_ be out there was almost too much.

"It's the middle of the off-cycle, and you aren't allowed outside for another two decaorns, remember?"

"I need to go outside!"

"No. Absolutely not. Calm down and go back to your room."

Sunstreaker pressed his hands flat to the door. It was just on the other side of the door, he knew it was just on the other side of the door.

"Sunny?"

His vents stalled as despair overwrote all other emotion and he sank to the ground.

"Sunny, would you stop it?"

He let out a quiet keen and curled up, pressing himself against the door.

"It's too late in the off-cycle for these dramatics, Sunstreaker. Go back to your berth or I will pick you up and drag you there."

Sunstreaker tried to get back in control of his systems, but he knew there was something out there he needed, and if he didn't go now, he'd never find it. It was just on the other side of the door, but they weren't going to let him out.

"Come on," Sunstreaker felt himself bodily lifted from the ground and carried back up the stairs. He fought, and shouted, but he knew it wouldn't do him any good.

"Shut up! You'll wake the other younglings. What is _wrong_ with you? You're too old for this!"

Sunstreaker tried to calm down but he was still sobbing quietly when Torque put him down on the berth. Some of the other orphans were awake. They'd make fun of him for this next orn. But he couldn't stop. He felt broken.

* * *

Sideswipe came online when the trash receptacle moved. He was disoriented for a few moments and then after that, he was tilted and shaken a little. He finally managed to shove the lid off, and the mech who'd just dragged the receptacle out of the gate dropped it on its side. Sideswipe tumbled out.

"What… youngling… but…"

"Hi," Sideswipe said. "Sorry. Were you trying to take out the trash?"

"But… hey, you're one of the orphans, aren't you?"

"Nope. Not an orphan," Sideswipe backed away. "I was just recharging there."

"Come on," the mech reached for him, but Sideswipe turned and ran. He was chased for a little while, but managed to lose the mech before too long. Then he wandered back over to the orphanage to find the fence once again in his way. But now there were some younglings and sparklings playing in the yard. He stood and watched them for a little while. Eventually, a little femme wandered over in his direction. He walked up to the fence to talk to her. She looked less than a vorn old.

"Hello," she said. "You play with me?"

"Nah," Sideswipe said. "I don't have time. I'm looking for something."

"What?" She tilted her helm to the side.

"I don't know," Sideswipe shrugged. "Just something. I think it's in that building somewhere. What's your designation?"

"Lilywhite," the femme said.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Sideswipe."

Her optics widened.

"What?"

She turned and ran away, screaming. Sideswipe stared after her, wondering what was wrong with her. She ran over to a group of younglings, still screaming. They looked up at him. He was in trouble now. He took a step back, suddenly glad there was a fence in between him and them.

An older femme—probably the oldest youngling in the group and maybe half a vorn older than him—crossed the yard.

"What did you scare Lilywhite for?"

"I didn't scare her," Sideswipe said.

"Well what did you do?"

"I was just talking to her."

"Who are you anyway?"

"My designation's Sideswipe."

She stared too. What the frag was wrong with these mecha?

"No," she shook her helm emphatically. "That's… you aren't real."

"What! What do you mean I'm not real? I don't even know who you are, and you accuse me of not being real." Now this was really getting interesting. "Here I'll prove to you I'm real."

A crowd gathered as he climbed over the fence again and dropped to the other side. The femme reached out hesitantly and poked his shoulder, then pulled her hand back, sucking a quick gasp through her vents.

"What's going on?" one of the others asked.

"He says his designation is Sideswipe," the older femme explained.

The others all seemed either awed, afraid, or disbelieving.

One of them laughed. "This is just some kind of joke. What are you doing here anyway, _Sideswipe_? If that's even your designation."

Sideswipe shrugged. "I don't know. Why do all of you think I'm not real?" He'd never been here before, had he? No, he would have remembered this place.

"One of the orphans here has an imaginary friend named Sideswipe," a femme explained. "He's really _immature_ about it too. Even Lilywhite's grown out of imaginary friends."

"Oh," Sideswipe said. "That's weird."

"So what are you doing here?" a mech about his age asked.

"I don't know. I'm looking for something, I think. But I don't know what it is."

They all looked at each other.

"Let's just take him to the boss," one of the mechs said. "And he's not supposed to be in here anyway."

"Wait," Sideswipe said. "I don't want to talk to any adults yet. I kind of ran away from home to come find this place and they'll just make me go back. I'm looking for something. Can you mecha help me find it?"

"What are you looking for?" the older femme asked.

"I told you I don't really know," Sideswipe said. "That's the problem. But it's here somewhere."

They all looked at each other.

"We should just go tell the boss."

"This is too weird," one of the others said. "Maybe we're all just dreaming."

"Wait right here," the older femme said. "I'll go get Sunny."

* * *

Phospora passed Garnet on her way to the mechs' room. Garnet nearly bumped in to her at the top of the stairs, muttering angrily about stubborn sparklings.

"Oh, sorry, Phosphora. Didn't see you there. Is everyone all right outside?"

"Yes, we're fine," Phosphora said with a smile that was probably a little too big. She wasn't accustomed to lying. Then again, she wasn't really lying.

Garnet seemed too distracted to notice though. She went down the stairs. Phosphora slipped past her into the messy room. Sunstreaker was lying on his berth, arms crossed, glaring at the ceiling.

"Hey, Sunny," she said.

"Go away."

Phosphora frowned. "Maybe I will."

"Or better. Do us all a favor and die. It wouldn't be hard, just look in a mirror and you'll probably keel over."

"I was _going_ to sneak you outside," Phosphora said. "But if you'd rather stay up here and hate yourself…"

Sunstreaker sat up and stared at her. It was the first time Phosphora could ever remember him looking at her without glaring. "Outside?"

"There's something out there we all want to ask you about."

He got up.

"But you weren't being very polite. Maybe I should just go to the boss instead…"

"Don't," Sunstreaker said. "Don't… uh… please."

Please? Had he actually just said please?

"Please," he said again. "Please take me outside."

She stared at him, lip plates parted slightly.

"What?" Sunstreaker got some of his usual crabbiness back. "Don't just stand there."

"Ok," Phosphora said. If he was willing to try to be polite, this must be really important to him. She led him out of the room and down the stairs. "Now you're going to owe me," she said. "Because I'm not really supposed to let you outside, and if the caretakers find out, they'll be mad."

He nodded.

They got to the front door and Phosphora hesitated, reconsidering one more time. Then she opened the door, and she and Sunstreaker stepped out.

At the other end of the yard, the youngling calling himself Sideswipe was talking animatedly with the others. He looked up, though, as they came out. Sunstreaker froze like a statue, stiff and tense, optics wide.

Then Sideswipe broke away from the others and ran. He crashed into Sunstreaker, knocking him over. Phosphora gasped—anyone who pushed Sunstreaker over was likely to get their faceplate pounded into the ground.

"Sunstreaker, I found you!" Sideswipe hugged him, then got off of him and dragged him to his pedes.

Sunstreaker was still just staring.

"Sorry." A wide grin broke out across Sideswipe's faceplate. "Are you ok?"

"I…" Sunstreaker trailed off. "…Sideswipe?"

"Yeah," Sideswipe said. "And your designation is Sunstreaker, right? I'm not sure why I called you that, it just popped into my processor."

Sunstreaker nodded. "You're real."

"Well, of course I'm real. Why does everymech seem to have a problem with that?"

Phosphora couldn't believe this. It was like some sort of bizarre dream.

Sunstreaker reached out and put one shaking hand on Sideswipe's shoulder. "You're real."

"Yeah! And I finally found you! I've been looking for you for as long as I can remember. Were you looking for me too?"

Sunstreaker nodded mutely, then tightened his grip. "Come on." He dragged Sideswipe inside. Phosphora and all the other orphans stared after them.

* * *

Sideswipe could not have expressed his happiness and relief. He had finally, finally found the thing he was looking for. That it had turned out to be another youngling was a little unexpected, but it felt right.

Sunstreaker dragged him inside and to a small room where a mech sat behind a desk, frowning down at a datapad.

"Hey, boss," Sunstreaker said.

The mech looked up. "Sunstreaker, would it hurt you to knock? Who's that?"

"It's Sideswipe," Sunstreaker said.

The mech raised both optic ridges.

"It's Sideswipe," Sunstreaker said. "I found him. He's real!" his voice box was glitching out and he sounded like he was about to cry. Sideswipe stepped a little closer to him, not quite sure what to do.

The mech behind the desk, however, had this comical look of shock and disbelief on his faceplate.

Sideswipe smiled at him. "Hi. I'm Sideswipe. I'm… real, apparently."

"I told you he was real," Sunstreaker said. "I told you I knew he was real. Look at him. You know it's him, you've seen my drawings of him, it's him, it's Sideswipe." He was alternating between being angry and relieved. Sideswipe was getting a little worried about him.

"How…" The mech stared at him. "This… this has to be some sort of…"

"I AM NOT A LIAR!"

The mech frowned. "Sunstreaker, sit down please."

"He's not lying," Sideswipe said. "I'm from across the city. I came looking for him, though I'm not sure why, and I didn't know it was _him_ I was looking for, but I was, and I came here and found him. My designation really is Sideswipe."

The mech narrowed his optics. "I… excuse me a moment." He got up and walked past them to the door. "Garnet, can you come here?"

"What's going on?" a femme came in through the door. "Oh, Sunstreaker, I see you've decided to get up, and… oh _Primus,_ that looks like…"

"Hi, I'm Sideswipe."

She put her hands to her lip plates. Sideswipe grinned and shot a look at Sunstreaker. "This is fun. Every time I say that they freak out."

"He says he's from across the city. Would you please verify that?"

She nodded and walked away without saying anything else.

"So, do you live here?" Sideswipe asked the yellow youngling standing next to him.

Sunstreaker nodded.

"I think you should come home with me."

"That's not an option," the boss mech said. "How exactly did you say you'd found him?"

"I don't know," Sideswipe said. "I guess I was just lucky,"

He didn't seem to like that answer, but he didn't ask for clarification. "How many times have you come here?"

"None," Sideswipe said. "I mean, this is the first time. I never managed to get all the way here."

"Do you know who Sunstreaker's creators are? Did they tell you about him?"

Sideswipe shook his helm. "No." Sunstreaker's creators? He was an orphan, wasn't he?

The femme, Garnet came back in. "He ran away from a friend's house last orn apparently, and the enforcers have been looking for him. Yes, his designation is Sideswipe. They're coming to take him back home."

"I'm taking Sunstreaker with me," Sideswipe said.

"No," the mech said. "I'm afraid that's not possible. You can come and visit him as often as you like though." He sounded kind of dazed, and was looking at Sideswipe like he still couldn't believe it.

"You knew," Sideswipe turned to Sunstreaker who still had a death grip on his shoulder. "You knew I was going to find you, didn't you?"

Sunstreaker nodded absently.

"You can let go of my shoulder, I think."

Sunstreaker did so, with a wary glance at the adults in the room.

"I want to take him home with me," Sideswipe said. If he insisted, they might just let him do it.

"This is so bizarre," Garnet said. "Is this some sort of joke, Sunstreaker? Where did you get this youngling?"

"He didn't get me anywhere," Sideswipe said. "I came and found him. You mechs really can't tell when someone's telling the truth, can you?"

They just stared at him.

Then there was a loud knock on some distant door. Garnet left, presumably to answer it, and brought back a pair of enforcers.

"Here he is," Garnet gestured to Sideswipe, who took a step away from them, nearly bumping into Sunstreaker.

"You, young mech," one of the enforcers said. "Have caused a lot of trouble."

"Sorry." Sideswipe looked down.

"Your creators were very worried about you. Come on, let's get you back to them."

Sideswipe reached over and grabbed Sunstreaker's arm. "Can I bring my friend with me?"

"No," one of the enforcers said. "Let's go."

"I'm not going unless I can bring him."

"I'm sorry," the boss mech got up from his desk. "Your creators are probably worried. You should go. You can come back later if you want."

"I'm not going." An edge of fear cut through his spark.

"Let go of Sunstreaker and go with the enforcers," the boss mech said.

Sunstreaker stepped closer.

"It's a very strange coincidence that your designation is the designation of Sunstreaker's imaginary friend, but that does not mean…"

"But he looks like him," Garnet said. "Sunny drew pictures…"

"What?" the enforcer said. "Oh, we don't have time for this. Let go and come with us right now, young mech, or we will have to drag you."

"I'm not going without Sunstreaker!"

They came in and pulled on him. He tried to hold on, but they were stronger, and the boss mech grabbed Sunstreaker to keep him from following as Sideswipe was dragged away, shouting and protesting.


	4. Reunited

Sunstreaker went limp in Avalanche's arms.

"I told you," he said quietly. "I told you he was real."

"Sunstreaker, why don't you go outside?"

Sunstreaker pulled away from him. "What?"

"I'll waive the rest of your punishment, just this once. Go on."

Sunstreaker glared at him and stormed off. Either he'd ignore what Avalanche had said and go up to sulk in his room, or they were going to have some problems soon with the younglings in the yard getting along.

Garnet crossed her arms. "What does this mean?"

"I don't know," Avalanche said. One of his orphans' imaginary friends had come to life and showed up at the orphanage, looking for him. In all of his vorns, he had never seen anything like that.

"Do you think it could be a coincidence? Do you _really_ think that could be a coincidence?"

Avalanche shook his helm. "But they couldn't have known each other. We got Sunstreaker when he was three or four orns old, and we _never_ had a sparkling designated Sideswipe here… I don't understand what just happened."

"This is going to be really bad for Sunny," Garnet said.

"Could it have been some sort of trick? That little youngling seemed like he was just going along with it." Avalanche shook his helm.

"I don't know…" Garnet said. "Then why was he so upset when they took him away? That seemed genuine to me."

They were missing something. Some piece to this puzzle. Sideswipe showing up had just made everything more confusing. "Whether or not it was some sort of fluke or coincidence…"

"It can't be."

"I don't know," Avalanche said. "I can't fathom how they'd have known each other. Maybe they really _have_ talked to each other somehow. Sunstreaker's always standing by that back gate. Maybe he just befriended the youngling that way and convinced him to run away and come play with him…"

"But if that was true then why didn't Sunstreaker tell us when we asked why he was so certain Sideswipe existed?"

"He must have been afraid he'd get in trouble."

"But…"

"It doesn't matter," Avalanche said. "We have things we need to be doing."

"It still doesn't add up."

"Would you just go check on Sunstreaker to make sure he isn't getting into trouble. Then go out and ask the younglings in the yard if they know any more about this."

Garnet vented a sigh, and walked away. Avalanche could tell she wasn't satisfied. She though they were still missing something. He agreed with her.

The orn went on and they heard nothing about Sideswipe. Sunstreaker was sulking in his room, so they let him skip their evening energon.

* * *

The door opened.

Seafoam rushed out and grabbed Sideswipe in a tight embrace. Sideswipe let her.

"We were so worried! Oh, Sideswipe…"

Sideswipe shuttered his optics. He heard Top Speed come out too. He wasn't going to push away from Seafoam yet. He wanted the immunity that she was giving him. Top Speed was going to be angry.

Sideswipe wasn't ready for that.

He felt… hollow.

Top Speed talked to the enforcers, thanked them, answered some of their questions.

And then they left and Seafoam led Sideswipe inside, still holding onto him.

They got to the kitchen.

Silence fell.

"Well," Top Speed said.

"I'm sorry," Sideswipe said.

"We were worried about you," Seafoam said.

"What would possess you to disappear like that?" Top Speed said. "You could have been hurt. You could have been kidnapped, or offlined! Where did you go?"

Sideswipe looked down.

They weren't going to let him out of their sight for a long time. He needed to go back there…

"Sideswipe!"

"Let him be, he had a rough orn last orn," Seafoam said.

Sideswipe finally pushed away from her.

"Are you hungry?" she asked.

"No," Sideswipe said.

"Do you have some sort of an explanation?" Top Speed asked. "Why did you run off?"

"I had to," Sideswipe said. "I went to… an orphanage."

"We know," Top Speed said. "And you are _never_ going back there."

"Wait," Sideswipe looked up at him. "I need to go back there. There was this youngling. He's what I was looking for. I found him. His designation is Sunstreaker. He's great. I need to go back there to play with him. We're friends."

Seafoam and Top Speed looked at each other.

"No," Top Speed said. "You will not. You will not be leaving this house again without one of us accompanying you. We'll pull you out of school if we have to."

"What! Why!" Sideswipe stood up.

"And you will never, ever see that other youngling again! Do you understand me?"

"No!" Sideswipe said, feeling panicked. "I need to go back there. I _have_ to."

"Maybe if you hadn't _run off_ then I'd consider it!" Top Speed said.

"But…"

"But nothing! You got us to trust you, and then you deliberately ran away. How long were you planning that?"

"I need to go back there."

"No! How many times do I have to say NO!"

Sideswipe stared at him as it sank in. They weren't going to let him go see Sunstreaker. They were never going to let him go back. He had found what he was looking for… and now he was right back where he'd started.

"Go to your room," Top Speed said.

Sideswipe backed away, then turned and ran. Seafoam called after him, but he didn't listen. He ran to his room and shut the door behind himself, then sprinted over to the wall that was closest to the orphanage and put his faceplate against it.

He knew how far away it was now.

It was so far away.

Sideswipe shuttered his optics. A warning flashed in his processor. He was running low on energon.

* * *

Garnet watched the younglings file down the stairs, trying to pretend she wasn't looking for a specific one.

She waited.

The last few trailed past her.

Sunstreaker hadn't come down.

 _"Torque,_ " she sent him a quick comm. _"Can you get all these mechlings energon? I need to go and bring down a straggler or two."_

There was a bit of hesitation. _"Okay, but you owe me."_

 _"Whatever."_ Garnet climbed the stairs and went to the room where the young mechs Susntreaker's age recharged.

There he was, still on his berth.

"Sunstreaker?" she said.

He had been hit pretty hard by what had happened the orn before. It still baffled her. It couldn't be a coincidence. And she didn't want to believe he was lying. Sunstreaker got angry easily, and did things he shouldn't, but he didn't usually lie.

She walked over and put a hand on his shoulder cautiously. "Sunstreaker, it's time to come down for some energon, okay?"

He didn't move.

"Hey!" She shook him.

He twitched, and then his optics lit up, but he didn't even look at her.

"Sunstreaker?" she said, concerned now. "Sunny, are you ok?" She knelt down by his berth, watching him carefully.

His optics took a long time to focus on her faceplate.

"Talk to me."

"Garnet?" he said so quietly she almost couldn't hear him.

"Are you feeling ok?"

Sunstreaker shook his helm, shuttering his optics.

She looked down, alarmed, and commed Avalanche. _"Boss,"_ she said.

He replied almost immediately. _"What? I haven't come in yet? Is this some sort of emergency?"_

 _"Sort of? I think Sunstreaker's sick."_

 _"Are you sure he's not just faking?"_

 _"Avalanche!"_

 _"Look, he's upset. He makes himself sick with his tantrums all the time."_

 _"He's not having a tantrum,"_ Garnet said. _"I think he's actually sick."_

 _"I'll come talk to him when I get there."_

 _"But…"_

 _"Just give him some energon. If he's really sick, we'll get a medic all right?"_

Garnet sighed. _"Ok."_

 _"You'll be happy to know I'm going to see if I can figure out that whole thing that happened yesterday with the youngling. I'll tell you how it goes when I get to the orphanage."_

 _"Ok."_ Garnet wondered exactly what he was planning to do. "Sunstreaker?" she said. "Can I get you some energon?"

Sunstreaker nodded slightly.

* * *

Avalanche walked up to the door. The apartment was on the ground floor, and seemed well-kept. These mecha were middle class, and living in a respectable area. A good environment for a sparkling to grow up in. Avalanche only hoped they were home so he could ask some questions and try to get to the bottom of this.

He requested entry and waited.

Eventually, a femme answered the door.

"Hello. I was wondering if you had a moment," Avalanche said.

"Yes," the femme said, looking a little nervous, "What is it?"

"I heard your creation went missing. I wanted to come and ask how he's doing. I'm the mech who found him."

"Oh," she said. "Oh, well, thank you very much."

"How is he?"

"He's not feeling very well," she said. "The excitement was a bit much for him."

Interesting. "Does he run away often?"

She frowned. "I… not meaning any impoliteness, but I don't know if that's your business."

Avalanche nodded. "I'm sorry to intrude, honestly. It's just… I run an orphanage, and one of my orphans has an imaginary friend named Sideswipe. It's probably just a coincidence, but that's not too common a designation, and they seemed about the same age. Is it possible your creation has come to my orphanage before?"

"I don't think so," the femme said, looking very guarded now. "And I really do appreciate you helping us find Sides, but I don't want him running around with orphans."

There were a few mecha who were superstitious about orphans, but not many. That sounded more like an excuse. Avalanche nodded again. "Of course. Can I talk to him for a moment?"

"He's not feeling well," the femme said again. "His systems are very sensitive, and I don't want him getting any worse. I'm sorry."

Avalanche nodded. "No, that's all right. Thank you for your time."

She nodded, and closed the door without another word.

Well.

Avalanche transformed and drove away, heading for the orphanage. As he went, he mulled over the conversation he'd just had. That femme had definitely not wanted to be helpful. In fact, she'd been anything but helpful. He wasn't sure what that meant, though he had a sneaking suspicion she knew more about this than she was letting on. She hadn't even seemed surprised, just defensive. It almost reminded him of Sunstreaker.

Garnet met him at the front door.

"How is Sunny?"

"Come," she said, and led him up to the room. Sunstreaker was lying on his side on his berth, staring at the wall in the direction he always stared.

"Sunstreaker?" Avalanche walked to stand over him, but Sunstreaker didn't move.

His optics were dim, and he barely seemed conscious.

"He took maybe a few mouthfuls of energon, but that was all." Garnet said. "He won't talk to me. He seems kind of cold to the touch. I think his internal temperature's too low. And he's not responding to me anymore. I don't even know if he can hear us."

This was bad.

The other youngling was sick too. Had one of them had a virus or something? But no one else had gotten it. The other you going was sick too... that was important somehow.

"Boss?"

Avalanche knelt in front of Sunstreaker. "I don't understand," he said. "I've never understood. I always thought he was faking, or lying."

The likelihood that Sunstreaker had somehow managed to guess the designation and color scheme of a youngling who lived halfway across the city, and that that same youngling would show up looking for him… and guess Sunstreaker's designation too…

It was impossible. They would need to have known each other. But Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, _and_ Sideswipe's femme creator had all denied that the two younglings had ever met. There was no reason to lie about something like that.

What if Sunstreaker hadn't been lying?

The stubbornness.

The tantrums.

Sunstreaker was always staring in the same direction… Avalanche pulled up a map of the city in his processor. That direction… was the _exact_ direction of the little apartment he'd visited earlier. What on all of Cybertron…?

"Do you believe me now that he's sick?"

Both younglings were sick. It was almost like some sort of bond… but there was no way… it would have to be as strong as a spark bond, or stronger… but you couldn't have a bond with someone you didn't know, and younglings couldn't have any kind of bond besides a guardian bond… except…

Avalanche sucked in a quick vent of atmosphere and sat back.

Primus beneath…

"Boss?"

He stood, trying to process this new theory.

"What?"

"Come to my office."

"I don't want to leave him alone. We need to get him a medic. I'm worried…"

"Come to my office now."

She followed him, frowning over her shoulder as they left the room.

In his office, he closed the door. "Do you remember how we got Sunstreaker?"

"I was on duty. I saw the femme put him down on the doorstep. I tried to chase after her, but I was too late."

"Would you recognize that femme if you saw her again?"

"Of course."

The boss pulled up a newspaper on his datapad and searched through the stories until he found a little blurb about Sideswipe being lost and then found at an orphanage of all places. It had a picture of the femme he'd talked to earlier in the orn embracing Sideswipe. He handed Garnet the datapad, and she looked down at it.

"That's her."

Avalanche shuttered his optics. "Primus…"

"What?"

He could not believe this.

"What?"

"That's Sideswipe's femme creator."

Garnet blinked, then looked at the picture harder. "Oh… oh my. What does that mean? She left Sunstreaker here? That would make them brothers… but they can't be brothers, they're the same age."

"Think about what you just said," Avalanche un-shuttered his optics.

Garnet looked up. "No…"

"Twins," the boss said, feeling a sick twisting in his tanks. All this time. Every time Avalanche had disregarded his Sunstreaker's tantrums, he had been disregarding real pain—a real need.

"It can't be," Garnet said. "No one's that stupid."

"We'll need to investigate further."

About one out of every 100 sparkings was a split. But most of them didn't survive. The spark had to split to the right extent, and neither half could be too large or small. Perhaps one out of a thousand split sparks survived as twins. They were a little less rare among symbiots, but mecha almost never made it.

And when they did, you had to be careful or you'd damage their bond.

"What do we do?"

"I don't know," Avalanche said. Contact enforcement? Contact a medic? There had to be some sort of sparkling abuse law…

Which might condemn him just as much as Sunstreaker's creators. Except that he hadn't known. They had.

"They broke their bond with him," Garnet said quietly. "It's illegal to break a bond with a sparkling unless you have written permission from a city judge. If we can prove that they're Sunstreaker's creators…"

Avalanche nodded.

"I told you," Garnet said. "I told you that he was struggling and that we needed…"

"I know!" Avalanche snapped, then put a hand to his faceplate and vented a slow, shaky sigh. "Let's get this sorted out."

* * *

"Well, what else are we supposed to do?"

Top Speed paced restlessly. He was always so fragging angry and stubborn.

"We can't just sit here…" Seafoam cradled Sideswipe in her arms. He hadn't come out of recharge that orn. "If you hadn't yelled at him…"

"It has nothing to do with that," Top Speed growled.

"We need to take him to a medic."

"We can't!"

"My sparkling is dying!" Seafoam stood, still holding the limp Sideswipe. "Because of this stupid secret!"

"If they find out what we did, they'll take him away from us," Top Speed said.

"So you'd rather he permanently _offline_?"

"This is your fault for letting him run away," Top Speed said. "This would never have happened if he didn't go to that orphanage."

"He was bound to go there eventually," Seafoam said. "We thought whatever bond they had would fade, but it obviously didn't. He never stopped trying…"

"Well… we can't tell anyone. Do you want them to take him away?"

Seafoam looked down at the little red youngling in her arms. "No."

"He's not completely offline. We can just… make sure he gets enough energon. He's bound to get better."

Seafoam shuttered her optics. "What if he doesn't?"

"He will."

"Maybe we should go back to that orphanage…"

"Did you hear what I just said? We can't do that!"

Seafoam held her youngling closer to feel the weak pulsing of his spark. She didn't think he'd get better.

* * *

Someone was talking to him. Sunstreaker couldn't think. The room was all gray and blurry and he could hardly see anything. It didn't matter though. There was no point.

Something dragged him out of his stupor.

"…Sideswipe…"

Sunstreaker blinked, slowly, and tried to focus his optics. He felt like there was a thick fog in his processor. But after some effort, the room solidified around him. The boss was kneeling in front of him, looking concerned.

"Can you hear me?"

"What?" Sunstreaker said.

"We're going to see Sideswipe."

Liar. They wouldn't let him see Sideswipe-they didn't even think Sideswipe existed.

The boss took in a deep vent. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you about him."

"You're lying," Sunstreaker said. His voice sounded weak and distant in his own audios.

"No," the boss said. "I am sorry. And we are going to go see him."

Sunstreaker tried to sit up, but he was too weak. The boss reached under him to pick him up, but he scooted away and almost fell off the other side of the berth. "Don't touch me," he hissed.

The boss watched him as he successfully sat up, then got off the berth. He stumbled, but managed not to fall.

He walked shakily to the top of the stairs. The boss went ahead, glancing back at him a few times as if worried he would fall, but Sunstreaker made it down the stairs. There were enforcers out there, and other mecha. Sunstreaker wondered if he was really going to see Sideswipe, or if they were just going to take him to a mental hospital.

He was crazy, right? Everyone seemed to think that. Even Sunstreaker thought it sometimes.

A transport came. The boss helped Sunstreaker get in. Sunstreaker shuttered his optics and buried his faceplate in his hands. He felt sick. Was Sideswipe real, or had that been a dream? What was wrong with him?

* * *

Sideswipe un-shuttered his optics. His energon tanks were down to practically nothing. But he didn't care. He could feel something. Something coming closer.

He quietly slipped off of his berth. A wave of dizziness washed over him.

He could hear Seafoam and Top Speed arguing somewhere else in the house. Sideswipe stumbled as he reached the doorway. He needed energon. He needed to get out of here. He needed to get to the kitchen, then he needed to leave. He would leave and never come back.

It wouldn't be easy. He couldn't even walk.

Sideswipe crawled forward, out into the hallway, then to the kitchen. His strength was almost spent by then. He looked up at the table. There was a half empty cube of energon there. Perfect.

He'd need to stand up to get to it.

The table was an imposing obstacle.

But Sideswipe didn't let things like that stop him.

* * *

The trip across the city seemed to take a very long time. Avalanche discussed the situation with the enforcers there, but kept an optic on Sunstreaker the whole way. Sunstreaker just sat, motionless and with a blank expression on his faceplate.

When they neared their destination, Avalanche reached out and put a hand on the youngling's shoulder. Sunstreaker looked up then, and met his gaze.

"I'm very sorry," Avalanche said. "Have you been listening to our conversation?"

Sunstreaker nodded.

"If I'd believed you before, you and your twin would have been reunited vorns ago. This is my fault. Please forgive me."

Sunstreaker just stared at him, still silent. Avalanche had a sinking feeling that the damage had already be done. A few simple words couldn't change that.

They got to Sideswipe's home and the enforcers knocked on the door. The same femme opened it. She looked momentarily surprised, then saw Avalanche. "What do you want?" she asked. "I mean… what's going on?"

"We'd like to speak to you about your creation," one of the enforcers said. "Can you bring him out here?"

"I…" she looked a little lost. "I can't. He's sick" She glared at Sunstreaker. "Something in that orphanage must have gotten him sick. He isn't…"

The little red youngling shoved past his femme creator and nearly tackled Sunstreaker. Sunstreaker took a step back from the impact, but put his arms around his brother and buried his faceplate in Sideswipe's shoulder.

"They told me I couldn't come back to see you," Sideswipe said. "I was so scared."

Sunstreaker still didn't say anything, but he rocked forward, then back again. He started sobbing quietly.

"Sideswipe, get away from…"

An enforcer stepped forward. "No one's hurting him. Now, would you mind answering some questions?"

A mech came to the door as well. "What's going on?" he demanded.

"We'd like to know if that yellow youngling is your creation?"

"The red one is," the mech said. "Not the yellow one."

"Are you telling the truth?" the enforcer asked.

"Why would I lie?" the mech said. "Sideswipe, what are you doing? Get away from…"

"No," The enforcer said. "We have suspicions that those two are split spark twins. We've got a medic on the way who will be able to confirm that."

"What?" The mech said. "You can't do anything to my youngling without my permission."

"No," the enforcer said. "But we _can_ arrest you on charges of sparkling abuse instead if you'd like."

The two younglings were still holding tightly to each other.

"But…" the mech said.

"If they aren't twins, then you don't have anything to worry about, do you?"

The mech looked down, clenching his hands into fists.

"Do you have another explanation?" The enforcer asked. "Apparently, they knew each others' designations without introducing themselves, and somehow managed to find each other without ever meeting before. And they don't look sick right now."

Sideswipe's creators didn't seem to have anything to say about that.

They knew.

"Do you deny that they're split-spark?"

They glanced at each other.

"Well…" the femme said. "We only wanted one sparkling."

Sunstreaker's sobbing had lapsed into silence again, but they didn't seem about to let each other go any time soon.

Two alts came down the road and transformed at the door. Both of them were medics.

The one in charge spoke briefly with the enforcers and then came over to the younglings.

"Can you two let go of each other for a moment?" he asked.

"Why?" Sideswipe said.

"I've got to do a test to see if you're brothers."

"Of course we're brothers," Sideswipe said.

"I understand you've been separated for a long time. If we do this test and it turns out you're twins, I promise you won't be separated again."

Sideswipe let go first, then Sunstreaker took a half step away from him. The medic nodded to his assistant, and then smiled at the twins.

"I want you to turn so you're facing directly away from each other." The two younglings stood back to back.

The medic walked around to face Sideswipe, and his assistant walked over to stand in front of Sunstreaker. "Now, we could go in and do some difficult scans to make sure," the medic said. "But fortunately, we don't need to. If they really are split-sparks, the bond between them should be strong enough you can see it. Watch the yellow one."

Avalanche stepped a little closer so he could see Sunstreaker's uncomfortable, guarded expression. He obviously didn't like everyone staring at him.

The medic got out a small flashlight. "I'm going to shine this in the red one's optics, and you'll be able to see the other one react. Watch." He shone it in Sideswipe's face.

Sunstreaker's optics shifted to compensate, even though the light was behind him. Slowly, his optics changed back.

"Wow," the junior medic said. "That's amazing."

The senior medic shut the light off and Sunstreaker's optics dilated a little before returning to normal again.

"There's no question," the junior medic said. "That's stronger than your average full spark bond by a factor of eight point seven, at least."

The medic nodded. "There you go."

"Yay!" Sideswipe said. "We're brothers."

"Of course we are," Sunstreaker shot an almost annoyed look at his twin.

The medic turned to the twins' creators. "You gave one of them to an orphanage?"

The femme nodded sulkily.

"That could easily have killed them," the medic said. "These bonds aren't like guardian bonds or spark bonds, they don't fade with time spent apart or distance, and for a youngling, feeling that bond but having no one there…"

"I'm sorry," Avalanche said. "I should have noticed. Sunstreaker was always…"

"Sides kept trying to run away," their mech creator said. "He used to say he was looking for something. I thought he'd grown out of it."

"Do they have to visit each other?" the femme creator asked.

"No," the medic said. "They have to live with each other. You can't separate them again, they've probably already had a decent amount of spark trauma from being apart since… I can't _believe..._ do you know how _rare_ surviving split-sparks are? To separate them as sparklings… I'm not sure how they're still alive, frankly. I won't hear of them being separated. I don't think you've realized how much pain you've caused them with something like that. Don't you two have a guardian bond over the yellow one, too? Or did you cut that off? Oh, Primus, how foolish can mecha be? That could have _killed_ him, which would have killed _both_ of them. No. They absolutely have to stay together."

"Yay!" Sideswipe embraced Sunstreaker again. Sunstreaker shot him another almost-annoyed look, but didn't push him away.

"But…" the femme said.

"Well," the enforcer said. "We will definitely be looking into this further, and there'll probably be a court case."

The twins' creators didn't seem too happy about that. There was despair on the femme's faceplate and anger on the mech's.

"If you're cooperative enough, then maybe the judge will let you keep them."

"We don't want…" the mech said.

"Yes we do," the femme said, glaring at her sparkmate. "I won't lose Sideswipe."

Avalanche looked down-this was still a mess. He glanced at the two younglings. At least they were together now. That ought to help them.

"I already have lots of ideas for things we can do," Sideswipe said. "We're going to have tons of fun!"

Sunstreaker shifted and Sideswipe let go of him. "Yeah?" he said, then caught Avalanche looking at them.

The enforcers were still talking to the younglings' creators. Avalanche approached the two, and knelt down in front of them.

Sunstreaker wore a guarded expression. Avalanche smiled. "I think I understand now."

"Good," Sunstreaker growled.

It was like a knife to the spark. But he figured he deserved it. He turned his attention to Sideswipe.

"You were mean to him," Sideswipe said.

"I was," Avalanche admitted. "And I was wrong. You know what, though? I'm glad you're real, Sideswipe."

The little red youngling frowned. Avalanche stood. He needed to get back to the orphanage now. They didn't need him here anymore. He spoke to the enforcers briefly, letting them know he was going back to work, but that he'd definitely be available to testify at the trial.

Then he transformed and drove away.

* * *

Sunstreaker didn't like medics or enforcers or other adults asking him questions, studying him, or otherwise paying attention to him. The past decaorn had been full of that sort of thing. But while it was uncomfortable and annoying, it wasn't too bad, because Sideswipe had been there.

Sunstreaker still couldn't believe his luck. Sometimes he woke up in the off-cycle and was afraid to un-shutter his optics, worried that it had all been a dream and he was back in the orphanage.

"Come on!" Sideswipe dragged him through the house and to their bedroom. There were two berths in there. That was one of the rules-their creators needed to let them share the same room.

Sunstreaker walked over to a berth and sat on it.

"That one's mine."

"Too bad."

Unlike the orphans, Sideswipe didn't get upset or go whine to an adult. He just sat down next to Sunstreaker, and pushed him off the berth.

"Hey!"

Sideswipe laughed.

Sunstreaker tackled him and they wrestled on the floor until Sunstreaker pinned his brother to the ground.

Then he got up and went back to the berth, rubbing at a scratch on his arm. Sideswipe lay on the floor, smirking up at the ceiling.

Sunstreaker knew that Seafoam and Top Speed didn't like him. They were only keeping him so they could keep Sideswipe. He was an outsider here, but then he'd been an outsider back at the orphanage, and back there he hadn't had his brother.

"I can't wait to go to school next orn," Sideswipe chattered cheerfully to the ceiling. "It's going to be great. All the other students will think you're so cool."

Sideswipe didn't seem to mind the attention they were getting. The whole city knew about it. Twins separated at birth, then reunited. Sunstreaker hoped the excitement would die down soon.

"We'll have all the same classes too. That'll be perfect."

The medics had explained to them that most twins didn't need to stay together. If they were kept close to each other when they were sparklings, then their bond stabilized and they could go their separate ways when they grew up. They'd always have a bond, but it wouldn't bother them too much if they were separated from each other.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker weren't like that. They were going to be stuck together forever.

The adults all seemed to think that was a bad thing.

Sunstreaker smiled. They didn't know anything.

THE END

* * *

Notes/Acknowledgments

1\. That's all, folks :) I hope you enjoyed it.

2\. Thanks for reading! And thank you for all of your kind and encouraging comments!

3\. I would also like to thank my little brother and my wonderful friends for providing much-needed help fixing typos and badly-written sentences. Without them, this story would be a great big mess.


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